All Grown Up
by SummerGirl0009
Summary: Adult Kari and T.K. reflect on their life together: how they met, how they fell in love, and how they keep their love alive with two careers and two children.
1. Chapter 1

**All Grown Up**

Chapter 1

Present Day

Kari sighed as she lit the last candle in the series of thick pillar aromatherapy candles lining the ledge around the back of her wide Jacuzzi bathtub. She stripped off her silky pink flowered bathrobe and sunk gingerly into the steaming bubbly water. Another sigh escaped her lips. She hadn't realized how tense she was until all of her muscles began to relax in the heat. After getting comfortable, she inserted her ear buds and set her iPod to Adele.

A second after she pressed play there was a knock on the door, disturbing her peace and relaxation. Before she had pulled out her ear buds the door opened and the handsome blond face of her sexy husband appeared poking into the bathroom.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know you were in here," T.K. said as he stepped inside, closing the door behind him and flipping the lock on the handle. "You look comfy," he said grinning goofily as he took a seat on the edge of her tub. "Want some company?"

He leaned closer so that their faces were almost touching.

"I'd love company," she said, grinning back at him. She reached up a dripping hand and wrapped it around the back of his neck, pulling his head down closer to hers.

His lips found hers in the same manner they had hundreds of times before. It didn't matter that they'd been married for almost ten years; every time they touched Kari still felt butterflies in her belly and a tingly feelings throughout her whole body. He kissed her with the same passion he showed her every day.

She moaned into the kiss anticipating what was to come. She slid her wet hands down his muscled torso to the bottom of his T-shirt and began lifting it up over his chest when a shout from the other room interrupted them, causing them both to stop and pull apart.

"Mom! Finn stole my fire truck again!"

T.K. growled, "When will they learn to share?"

Kari smiled, "When we teach them."

"What do you mean we?" T.K. said laughing, "They're calling for you."

Kari splashed him teasingly.

"Dad! Tell Finn to give me back my truck!" Their elder son Ben yelled again. Finn let out a loud cry as he began to wail.

"Now they're calling for you," Kari said smugly as she reached for her iPod's ear buds once again, sinking back into her bubble bath.

"Fine," T.K. said, heading back toward the door. "But we'll finish this later." He winked at her before stepping out to manage their children's fight.

By the end of Rolling in the Deep both her kids were crying as T.K. put them in time out until they agreed to share the truck and play together. All right, she decided it was time to give up attempting to find a moment of peace. She rose from the tub, dried off slowly, and slipped back into her bathrobe.

She meant to change into her pajamas but on her way from the bathroom to her bedroom, the doorbell rang.

"Can you get that, Kar?" T.K. called from somewhere else in the house.

Kari hurried down the stairs, wondering who would be at their door at eight o'clock in the evening. She'd be putting the kids to bed soon, and so would most of their friends who all had children around the same age as theirs.

She wasn't really all that surprised when she opened the front door to find her nephew Jon standing on their front porch. There was no mistaking Jon for Tai's son; their features were so similar they could have been clones. Their personalities, however, were somewhat different. Tai and his son were both headstrong and natural leaders, but Jon was much more focused academically and showed no interest in soccer or other sports. They all figured he must have gotten that from his mother, Mari, who had divorced Tai five years ago, when Jon had been only three years old. Tai, of course, had taken the divorce pretty hard and blamed himself and his high-stress career as a diplomat between their world and the digital world. After the divorce he purchased a home outside of the city and in the same neighborhood as T.K. and Kari where he could raise Jon (when it was his weekend and holiday to have him) in a more family-friendly environment than his old high-rise apartment.

Jon took off his helmet as he leaned his bicycle up against the brick wall next to the front door and plucked his digimon partner Koromon from the basket on the front of his bicycle.

"Hi Jon," Kari said. Behind her she heard Ben yelling Jon's name excitedly. Jon was two years older than Ben and three years older than Finn, which naturally made him their idol. "What are you doing here so late? Does your dad know you're here?"

"Yeah, he knows," Jon said as Kari ushered him inside. "I need you or Uncle T.K.'s help with a school project."

Kari wasn't surprised at that either; Tai had never been good at homework.

On their way to the kitchen they passed Ben and Finn who were sitting on either end of the living room couch with the plastic toy fire truck in between them. T.K. sat across from them, typing away on his laptop computer.

Kari led her nephew into the kitchen and sat him down at the counter, before pouring him a glass of milk and finding some of the leftover chocolate chip cookies she had baked earlier that evening. Ben followed them, taking a seat beside his older cousin at the counter and helping himself to the plate of cookies. She could hear Finn in the living room happily making whirring siren sounds as he played with the truck.

"So what are you working on, Jon?" Kari asked, leaning against the countertop across from them.

The older boy set Koromon down on the kitchen floor to socialize with Gatomon, Patamon, and Ben's partner digimon, Tokomon. Then he dug out a weathered spiral notebook from his backpack.

"It's an assignment for my school's newspaper. I want to be a writer when I grow up, just like Uncle T.K. My assignment, since Valentine's Day is in a couple of weeks, I need story about a couple that I know and how they met and fell in love." Kari couldn't help but be impressed that he was that dedicated to writing at only eight years old.

"Well I'm sure Uncle T.K. would love to help you. He writes novels, but I bet he could handle helping with a school newspaper," Kari said.

"Awesome!" Jon exclaimed, "Because I wanna write about you and Uncle T.K."

"Oh," Kari said, somewhat taken aback. "Why not write about your mom and dad?"

Ben rolled his eyes, "Because they're divorced, mom, duh."

"Or what about Grandma and Grandpa Kamiya?" Kari asked, "Their story would be a good one to write about too."

"Yeah, I know," said Jon, "but grandma and grandpa aren't famous like you and Uncle T.K. Everybody knows the story of the digi-destineds. Is that how you and Uncle T.K. met or did you meet before then? When did you know you were in love? Was it when MagnaAngemon saved you from Piedmon? Or when Uncle T.K. rescued you from the Dark Ocean? How did he ask you to marry him?"

Kari took a deep breath, feeling slightly bombarded. "You know what, it's getting pretty late. Why don't you let Uncle T.K. drive you home, and tomorrow you and your dad can come over for dinner and we can tell you the story together."

"Okay," Jon said, packing his notebook back into his bag. "I'll tell my dad!"

While T.K. drove their nephew around the block to Tai's house, Kari and Gatomon tucked Ben and Finn into bed with their digimon partners. It hadn't been a surprise to them when Ben's digi-egg hatched into Poyomon who became Tokomon and might someday become a Patamon. Ben was most like T.K., they even looked similar with long lean bodies, messy blond hair and bright blue eyes. Anyone who knew T.K. had only to look at Ben to know he was his son. Finn, on the other hand, favored Kari much more than his father. Finn had Kari's skinny frame, brown hair, and brown eyes. He was even similar to his mother in his partner digimon, Salamon. At five years old it was already clear to them that he would inherit Kari's sweet nature and his Uncle Matt's coolness, whereas Ben was more like T.K. and his Uncle Tai – hot headed and spontaneous.

She visited each of their bedrooms, made sure they were both comfortable, kissed their foreheads and told them goodnight before retreating back to her wing of the house.

Upon entering her walk-in closet, she reached for her flannel pajamas before hesitating, reflecting on her earlier moment in the bathroom with T.K. She hoped he remembered that they were supposed to finish what they had started then. Instead of grabbing the flannel, she turned to a drawer she seldom opened anymore and ruffled through the few items of lingerie she owned.

While she was deciding she heard the garage door close and T.K. enter the house. She decided on a black lace baby doll, but then decided she should probably style her hair, which had dried a little frizzy in her rush to answer the door after her bubble bath.

She listened from the bathroom as he walked down the hallway, checking on each of the boys before heading to the bedroom.

"Are you in here?" he asked quietly before shutting the door behind him.

"Yes," she replied, "are the kids asleep?"

"Yep."

After fixing her hair, Kari decided she needed a little lipstick. After the lipstick she decided she needed a little mascara. After the mascara she decided she ought to have shaved her legs earlier but it was too late for that now, but that was one good thing about being married for ten years.

When she finally deemed herself ready, she stepped out into their bedroom to find T.K. lying on the bed in his boxer shorts…fast asleep and snoring loudly.

Kari smiled and climbed into bed beside him. With a heavy sigh she pulled the covers up over them both and threw one of her unshaven legs over his before drifted off to sleep as well.


	2. Chapter 2

**All Grown Up**

Chapter 2

10 Years Ago

The truth was that soon after the second digi-destined team's defeat of MaloMyotismon, T.K.'s mom was transferred yet again and T.K. was forced to switch cities and schools. Because Kari considered him such a good friend she had tried to stay in touch with him, but after they both entered high school it became nearly impossible. Kari got caught up in her cheer leading and photography while T.K. soon became caught up in basketball and high school girls. Their emails and digital world reunions became fewer and fewer until the point where they had both simply stopped trying.

It was many, many years after high school when she finally thought about him again. She had graduated from university with a degree in elementary education and had obtained a full-time career teaching third grade at a school near her hometown of Odaiba and she loved it.

After working there for two years, she had settled on a few routines with her students. For example, on every Friday morning Kari took her class to the school's library to pick out a book. Then, after recess, she gave them twenty minutes of silent reading time. Her third grade students usually came to her at various reading levels. Most had just learned how to read in the first grade and stuck to simple or short, easy to read books, but there were usually one or two students that were considered advanced readers and preferred the library's more mature children's books.

This year, her advanced reader's name was Logan, so when he cracked open a fairly large hard cover book that Friday afternoon after lunch, Kari was not too alarmed. She made her rounds circling the room, making sure all of her students had suitable material and that they were actually reading. Occasionally, she would stop and help them sound out a word or provide a quick definition for them.

On her third loop around she glanced at the cover of Logan's book and was surprised by what she saw. The cover artwork featured a map of a circular island with a tall mountain in the center. Above it, in bold blue holographic letters were the words, _The Digital World_.

"Logan, can I see that book you're reading?" she whispered to her student as she knelt down beside his desk.

"Sure, Miss Kamiya, it's about the digi-destineds!" he said in a voice much louder than a whisper so that several nearby students turned to stare at them.

She took the book over to her desk and sat down with it. Underneath the title the author's name was also featured in holographic font: Takeru Takaishi.

Kari handed the book back to Logan with a smile, asking him if he liked it so far.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed. "It's my favorite!"

The rest of the day passed in a blur to Kari as she counted down the seconds to the weekend. When her last student had left for the day, she quickly grabbed her things, locked up her classroom and walked as fast as she could to the nearest bookstore in town.

"Hi, Miss Kari," the elderly cashier called to her as she walked in.

"Hi, Sam!" Kari called back, familiar with most of the employees at the store. She came there regularly not only to purchase her personal readings but also to stock up on books for her classroom. "Maybe you can help me find something…I'm actually looking for something particular today. Do you happen to have a series of books…well, I'm not sure what the series is called but the first book is called _The Digital World_ and the author's last name is Takaishi."

Sam chuckled heartily, stroking his bushy white beard. "Are you just now hearing about those books? I'll be surprised if we actually have any left on the shelves. They're international best sellers. The series is called _The Digi-Destined Adventures_. There's four out right now, and will be six in the whole series. Haven't your students been reading them? The first book alone sold more copies than all the _Harry Potter_ books combined."

Kari wasn't sure yet if she believed him as she followed him back to the children's section. She well remembered the British _Harry Potter_ franchise and the obsession that had followed, even here in Japan.

He led her to the specific shelf in the children's non-fiction section and then headed back to his register.

Kari looked at all four books aligned perfectly at eye level. She ran her finger across T.K.'s name, remembering the boy she had known and how much she had cared for him back then. She pulled out the first book, with the picture of File Island that Logan had been reading. Then she grabbed a copy of the second book, bound in red and titled, _The Search for Crests_. The third book made her pause. It was titled, _The Eighth Child_, in shiny purple letters. Across the cover was a picture of a herd of Bakemon flying over the city. She barely glanced at the fourth book, bound in green and titled, _The Dark Masters_, before stacking them all in her arms and heading back to the front of the store.

"Are these for your class or for you?" Sam asked as he scanned the books and bagged them for her.

"For me. I guess you could say I'm a fan of the author."

"Oh, then you'll want to come back here tomorrow," Sam said, pointing to a flyer taped to the side of his register. "He'll be here for a book signing. Odaiba is where it all happened, you know, but you were probably too young to remember all that."

"You'd be surprised. I remember it like it was yesterday," Kari said as she paid, thanked him, and left the store.

She hurried home after that, only slightly hindered by the heavy bag of books.

"Gatomon!" she called as she unlocked the door to her tiny one bedroom apartment. "I'm home!"

The cat-like digimon turned off the soap opera she had been watching as Kari set the bag down on the coffee table in the living room. She pulled out the thick tomes to show her.

"Gatomon, did you know about these?" Kari knew that Gatomon still sometimes kept in touch with Patamon via the digital world.

"No, Kari," Gatomon said, flipping through the first volume. "Wasn't it always T.K.'s dream though to become a writer?"

"Yeah, when he was twelve," Kari replied. "How many people actually become what they want to be when they're kids?"

"You did," Gatomon answered smiling.

Kari went to bed that night feeling extremely anxious for the next day. She couldn't believe that after being gone for so long, T.K. had just popped right back into her life. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him; so much ground they had lost in their friendship. She wondered if it would even be possible for them to be friends after so long. It seemed much more likely that they would have grown apart into completely different people. Sure, she might have thought she loved him when she was twelve, but what did that mean now?

When her alarm clock rang Saturday morning, Kari still couldn't shake her nervousness. It felt like time was moving in slow motion as she prepared herself to face her long lost friend. It wasn't like she was expecting for them to pick up where they left off twelve years ago, but she hoped they could still bridge their friendship.

"Come on, Kari!" Gatomon yelled from the living room, "We're going to miss the signing!"

"Coming!" Kari slipped on her sandals, grabbed one of the books off the coffee table and her keys from their peg on the wall, before following the digimon out the door.

They spotted the line for the book signing when they were still several blocks away from the store, composed of both humans and digimon alike. They filed in at the end, surprised at the people still streaming to line up behind her despite the length of the line and the late hour of the morning.

"I guess these books really are popular," Gatomon said. "I'm gonna go see if Patamon's here." She took off running on all fours toward the front of the line winding through the bookstore's front doors.

Kari waited for two hours in the hot afternoon sun before she made it inside the store. The air conditioning was a huge relief as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Gatomon caught up to her as she was nearing the huge cardboard displays with pictures of the four book covers, which marked the front of the line.

"Patamon's not here," she said sadly, "I looked everywhere and I can't find him."

"We'll have to ask T.K., then," Kari said. "Look, we're next." Kari pulled the book out from under her arm and wiped her forehead again with her sleeve, hoping she looked much better than she felt.

The woman in front of her moved and Kari got her first glimpse of him. He was sitting behind a wooden table squeezed in between tall stacks of books, wearing a green polo shirt, his hair short and spiked. He looked up at her with his bright blue eyes and Kari felt her heart flutter in a way it hadn't since she'd last seen him twelve years ago.

"Hi there," T.K. said. His eyes looked her up and down and he grinned a goofy smile. "I'm Takeru Takaishi." He reached out a hand.

Kari's heart sunk a little bit. There was no recognition in his eyes.

"Hi, T.K.," Kari said quietly. "I'm surprised you don't remember me." She held out the copy of the book she had brought with her, it was the third one in the series. "After all, you did write a book about me." She smiled at him as his face fell in disbelief.

"Kari?" he asked, clearly stunned.

"It's Kari Kamiya!" Someone behind her in line yelled.

"She was the Eighth Child!"

T.K. rose to his feet and pulled her into a tight hug, which was made only slightly awkward by the wide wooden table between them.

"I can't believe it's you!" He exclaimed. "It's been too long. You look great!"

"Can I take a picture?" The woman behind her in line asked.

T.K. pulled her around the table until she was standing beside him. Several people in line wanted pictures so they ended up posing arm in arm for several long minutes.

"Look, Kari, it's great to see you," he said, turning back towards her. "But I'm pretty swamped here. What do you say we go get some coffee and catch up when I'm done? I think they'll be ending the signing in a about two hours."

"Uhh…sure…" Kari said, hesitating at the idea of waiting around for two more hours. "Do you want to wait and go with us, Gatomon?" she asked her digimon who was waiting patiently at her feet.

"Is Patamon going to go too?" she asked T.K.

"No," T.K. said smiling at Gatomon, "Patamon's not here with me. He's been spending a lot of time in the digital world lately."

"Oh, okay." Kari could see the disappointment in her furry friend. "Then I'll pass, I'm due for a cat nap."

Kari handed over her apartment keys to Gatomon as T.K. turned to greet the next customer in line.

Two very long and boring hours later, T.K. put down his pen, rose from his chair and stretched his arms up over his head. Kari couldn't help but notice the muscles of his arms ripple and the hem of his shirt lift just a little bit to reveal the hint of a perfectly toned abdomen. Their eyes met and she looked away blushing. He grinned widely.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked her. She nodded, letting him lead her out of the store and down the street to the nearest Starbucks.

When they entered, T.K. flipped open a fancy leather wallet. "Order anything you want," he said to her, "it's on me."

"Thanks," Kari said as she ordered a small iced coffee.

"I'll have a venti soy caramel macchiato with a double shot of espresso and no foam, please," T.K. ordered. The request made Kari's eyebrows rise slightly; she couldn't remember the old T.K. being that picky about anything. The barista didn't seem to mind, however, as she hurried off to make their drinks. Then they picked out a small table in a quiet corner where they could talk and catch up.

"So, Kari, how have you been?" he asked.

"I've been great, T.K., I'm a teacher now."

"Huh," he said. "I can't believe you liked school that much to go back. How is it we haven't seen each other in, what's it been, ten years?"

"Twelve," she corrected. "I guess we've both been pretty busy with life."

He nodded an agreement. "That's definitely true for me. After I graduated college I spent all my free time writing down our stories. I never expected them to be as big as they are. I guess people just really love reading about us."

"I believe it," Kari said. "I know I always loved when Tai would tell me stories about before I became a digi-destined." In all honesty, Kari couldn't wait to start reading the first two books in T.K.'s series since they took place before she had joined the group, when she had been too sick to go to summer camp with them.

The barista brought them their drinks.  
"People really love reading about the digi-destineds," T.K. went on. "When _The Digital World_ sold its first hundred million copies, I couldn't believe it. And then it sold two more hundred million!"

Kari tried to do the math in her head. Whatever the total figure ended up being, the end result was that T.K. was a very rich man.

"Wow, that's amazing, T.K."

"And that's just the start, there's a television company that's been negotiating with my publishers into making the books into a children's cartoon show. And there may even be a movie deal coming up. Another company wants permission to make trading cards. And another one is currently designing a video game."

"I bet you're really proud," Kari said, wondering how many more times she would have to praise him before it would be acceptable to make an excuse to leave. In the meantime she let him go on about the cartoon prospect while sipping at her drink.

When it seemed like he had finally reached a lull, Kari asked another question, changing the topic, "So why is it that we haven't seen each other in so many years? You'd think with so many mutual friends we'd have run into each other some time or another."

"Hmm," T.K. pondered, "well I remember you couldn't make it to Matt and Sora's wedding a couple years ago."

Kari blushed slightly. Matt and Sora had become almost as successful as T.K. Matt was an astronaut and would soon to be traveling to the moon, believe it or not, and Sora was an up and coming fashion designer in Japan. Their wedding had been an extravagant destination wedding in Hawaii. Kari would have loved to go but at the time she'd been a poor college graduate and just starting at the elementary school. She neither had the money to afford to travel to Hawaii nor the vacation hours at her new job.

Neither of those excuses were things she felt like bringing up with T.K. so instead she asked him, "What about Tai's wedding last year? I don't recall you being at that one."

"No," T.K. said, "It was very unfortunate timing. The wedding was right after _The Dark Masters_ was released in Europe. I was sailing the Mediterranean on my yacht for the book tour."

"Oh, I see," Kari replied, unable to think of anything better to say to that. Her little life couldn't compare to his in any way.

She glanced down at her cell phone, wishing she had thought to arrange for Gatomon to call and give her an excuse to leave.

"Well, it really has been great seeing you T.K." Kari said, standing up to throw away her empty cup.

"It definitely has. Oh, wait, Kari," he said, "I never signed your book for you."

"Oh, right," Kari said. It had totally slipped her mind, since getting his signature had not been her reason for going to the book signing at all. She slid her copy of _The Eighth Child_ across the table to him.

He pulled a pen out from his shirt pocket and scribbled his name across the inside cover of the book. Underneath it he wrote out his phone number.

"There," he said, winking at her, "now we don't have to wait twelve years to see each other again."

Kari forced herself to smile. "Right," she said, grabbing her book and turning toward the door.

"Goodbye T.K., best of luck with the movie deal and everything."

He wouldn't let her go that easily. He pulled her in for another long hug. "Goodbye Kari, hope to hear from you soon."

She only nodded as she exited the café. Once outside she rolled her eyes and supposed her questions about him were answered now. It seemed, he had grown up to be a real prick.


	3. Chapter 3

**All Grown Up**

Chapter 3

Present Day

If you have never tried to go grocery shopping with two young children, Kari would definitely not be the one to recommend it. Unfortunately, that particular day she hadn't had a choice. If she was to have enough time between when the school day ended and when Tai and Jon would be coming over to their house for dinner, there was no way she could have taken Ben and Finn home first, all the way to their suburb outside of the city. She was lucky enough that they attended the same school where she worked so she didn't have to make any extra trips.

Of course, he had tried calling T.K. at his office. Since his novels had not only become international best-sellers which had then turned into a television series, multiple movies, a trading card phenomenon, and even several video games, his name had sort of become the foundation for a corporation. Therefore, he ended up spending less time writing, like he would prefer, and more time in meetings with publishers, producers, directors, and human resources personnel. His reply had been that he would be lucky if their current meeting ended before dinnertime.

As displeased at that made her, she knew there was nothing he could do to change it. She couldn't complain since his income made Kari's salary look like chump change. Still, she missed how convenient it had been having a husband who worked from home, like he had done before the television series, the movies, the games, and the trading cards.

"Mommy, I need those!" Finn called out, pointing to a large package of candy bars.

She didn't say anything, just shook her head no. She made Finn walk beside her holding her hand since he was too big for sitting in the shopping cart anymore. He had a habit of thinking he needed every sugary or junk food item he saw. Ben followed them, while practicing his even worse habit of grabbing everything he wanted off the shelves and tossing them into her cart. Between making sure she was selecting everything from her shopping list (and _only_ things from her shopping list), dragging Finn along, and pulling things out of the cart to make Ben put back away, she most definitely had her hands full.

She may have even been breaking a sweat from the exertion when she reached the checkout lane. As typical for the afternoon rush, the lines were ridiculously long. Both the boys began to lose their patience as they waited, slowly creeping closer to the cashier's register.

Ben was fidgeting noisily beside his mother and little brother when saw a package of bubble gum he wanted in the shelves lining the checkout lanes. He reached for it, accidentally stepping on Finn's foot.

"Ow!" Finn yelled, much louder than was necessary. Other customers in the lines around them turned to stare at the boy who began to cry loudly.

"Don't cry, you baby," Ben taunted him.

"Hush Ben," Kari said.

"Mom! Ben stepped on my foot!" Finn cried.

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"On accident!"

Kari tried her best to silence both of them, smiling at the people around them as they finally reached the cashier. She began unloading the contents of her cart onto the register's conveyor belt. In the process, she grabbed two of the three packages of Oreo cookies Ben had snuck into their cart and handed them over to the cashier to return to the shelves.

Then she turned to her still screaming children.

"Ok, you two," she held up the last package of cookies, smiling as both of their eyes were drew to the bright blue package. "If you be good until when we get home, I'll buy you these cookies for dessert tonight."

Both of her children smiled and heartily agreed that they'd be good. And, thankfully, they were both quiet the whole way home.

Kari knew some of the parenting books she'd read, some of the other parents she knew, and even her own mother would not have agreed with the method she'd just used to bribe her children to behave. It wasn't that Kari disagreed with certain parenting techniques - she just knew when to pick her battles. She mused on the fact that her children were food motivated during their silent ride home. Maybe they would end up fat, but at least they'd know how to behave.

When they got home Tokomon and Salamon met them at the door and they all sprinted to the living room, already pulling out the video game equipment stored underneath the television.

"Homework first!" Kari stopped them, grabbing the controllers. She scooted the boys to the kitchen and set them up on stools beside the counter. They both groaned as she handed them pencils.

"But Mom, I don't have any homework," Finn said.

"Ok, honey," Kari said and gave him permission to go play.

"I don't have any either!" Ben repeated.

"Really?" Kari asked, suspiciously. "How about I call Mrs. Suzuki and ask her?"

Ben groaned loudly. "It's just spelling homework. It'll take five minutes."

"Then use the next five minutes," Kari scolded as she started unpacking her groceries and sorting them into what she needed for tonight's dinner and what she did not.

When she was finished, Ben called out, "Done!"

He stood up and Kari could tell he was ready to run out of the kitchen to find his brother and digimon partner. "Not so fast," she told him, picking up the piece of paper where he had written out his list of spelling words five times each. "How do you spell 'photo?'" she asked him, "I'll give you a hint, it doesn't start with F."

She saw the revelation click in his eyes. Kari knew he really was a good speller and student, when he applied himself. He was too much like his Uncle Tai.

"P-H-O-T-O," he replied.

"Ding ding!" She handed him back the paper so he could fix the line where he had written "foto" five times.

When he had returned to the living room and his video games, Kari pulled out her smart phone to look up the email Mimi had sent her earlier. Their old friend Mimi had become a famous chef. After studying at one of the most prestigious culinary academies in Europe, she had managed to land her own cooking television show. While Kari was not a regular viewer, she never hesitated to text or email Mimi for a recipe suggestion.

Tonight's dish was Mimi's Secret Orange Chicken. The secret was that she used both real oranges and orange juice. When Kari got to the part of the recipe that called for the orange juice, however, she pulled out the carton from the refrigerator only to find that someone had put it back on the shelf empty.

Frustrated, she grabbed her phone again and called T.K. She could tell how tired he was by his voice when he answered but she didn't think that justified his protest to her request that he stop and pick up another carton of orange juice on his way home.

"Kari, I'm just leaving the office now. With rush hour traffic this time of day I won't even be home for another hour. And stopping will take even longer. Is it really necessary?"

"Yes!" Kari demanded. "If we don't have orange juice we don't have dinner." She knew she might have been overreacting, but her long day at school and errands afterwards with the boys had left her just as wearied. And now she had to make dinner for the family, clean up everything afterwards, make sure the boys took baths and put them to bed, make their lunches for tomorrow, and do at least a few loads of laundry in order to stay on top of the ever building piles of dirty clothes. When T.K. got home he would eat, maybe write a little bit on his computer, maybe play a video game with the boys, and then probably go to bed. Asking him to stop at the store for one thing was nothing in comparison.

She hung up the phone and resumed her cooking. Tai and Jon would be there within the hour.

Luckily though, Tai was running late (per usual) so T.K. managed to beat him home in just enough time. He handed Kari the grocery bag and kissed her on the cheek before heading into the living room to relax with the kids and digimon.

Kari opened the bag to find a large bottle of lemon juice.

"T.K.!" She stormed into the living room. "What is this?"

"Lemon juice," he replied calmly for the couch. "What you asked for."

"No, I asked for orange juice."

"Oh," his face fell. "Sorry, I thought you said lemon juice. It's been a long day." He laughed. "Lemons, oranges, at least their both citrusy."

She marched back into the kitchen, extremely frustrated. "What am I supposed to do with lemon juice? The recipe clearly calls for orange juice!"

"Kari, calm down," he said as he crept up behind her, placing his hands on her hips and his lips on the back of her neck.

"Calm down?" she exclaimed. "Don't tell me to calm down, I've had just as long a day as you have." But she was calming down and he knew it. She couldn't focus on anything for long when he kissed that certain spot on the side of her neck just below her ear.

"That's better," he murmured as she relaxed in his arms and his hands slid down the front of her thighs.

"Hello? We're here!" Tai's voice rang out from the foyer, causing them both to jump apart, even after all these years. Then they both laughed at their teenage reaction.

"We're in the kitchen, Tai!" Kari responded, opening the bottle of lemon juice.

"Mmm!" He sighed deeply as he entered. "Something smells good!"

"We're having Lemon Orange Chicken for dinner," Kari said, unable to resist smiling at T.K.

"Lemon orange…" Tai mused. "Well, you know I don't care what you make as long as it's edible, and even then I'd probably eat it."

They all laughed. T.K. uncorked a bottle of cabernet as Kari finished cooking and Jon ran off to join the boys' game.

After a surprisingly delicious dinner, and Ben and Finn had retreated to their game, Jon pulled out his notebook, ready to get to work on the story he was writing about T.K. and Kari.

"So tell me," he asked them, "when did you two first meet?"

Kari opened her mouth to answer then stopped. When had they first met? She knew it must have been sometime after the others had found out she was the eighth child. Was it when Wizardmon had died to save her and Gatomon? Or was it later when they'd had to watch Angemon and Angewomon shoot Matt and Tai with arrows? She knew T.K. had been there but she couldn't recall any memory of the first time they'd actually met. She turned to look at T.K. and laughed when she saw his panicked expression.

"I don't even remember," T.K. laughed with her.

"Next question," Kari said.

"Ok," Jon said, looking disappointed. "This one's for Aunt Kari. What made you fall in love with Uncle T.K.?"

Kari smiled, thinking back to the beginning of their relationship. "I guess you could say that he swept me off my feet."

T.K. snorted into his glass of wine. "No, that's not it. I tried to sweep you off your feet and you didn't like it."

"That's not true," Kari said.

"Yes it was," he retorted. "You called me a snob."

"No, I told Yolei I thought you were a snob. And that was only because it was true!"

"Ok, next question," Jon interrupted and continued with the interview.

When they finally said goodnight to Tai and Jon, Kari wasn't sure if Jon had gotten anything useful out of the interview. It seemed there were some discrepancies in their memories.

Then they tucked the boys in like they did every night and retired to their bedroom. While she was changing into her pajamas she glanced at the top of her hamper where the black lingerie she had worn the night before was still lying on top. She hesitated for just a second before pulling on her plain cotton nightgown.

She turned back around toward their bedroom to find T.K. lying facedown on his side of the bed in his boxer shorts and a plain white T-shirt.

"T.K.?" she asked, leaning against the closet door. "Are you still awake?"

"Mhmm," he mumbled sleepily.

"Do you think we're boring?"

"What?" he asked, opening his eyes to look up at her. "Why would you think that?"

"It's nothing…" she thought better of where this conversation was heading.

He rolled his legs over the edge of the bed as he sat up. "No, tell me. What is it, Kar?"  
"It's just…all this stuff about how we met and fell in love, just got me thinking about how…different we were."

"Different how?" he asked.

"I don't know," Kari said. "We just used to have so much fun. Like the trip to Tahiti… And our honeymoon in Italy…I just can't help but feel like we're old and boring now."

He laughed as she crossed the room to stand in front of him. He took her hands in his. "Kari, we are not old. And we're not boring! Yeah, we're different, but that's okay. I like our life together." He pulled her down onto his lap so that she was straddling him.

"Me too," she said, leaning her forehead against his.

"Good," he stated as his lips found her sensitive spot on her neck again. She sighed deeply, finally this time there was no one to interrupt them.


	4. Chapter 4

**All Grown Up**

Chapter 4

10 Years Ago

T.K.'s inscription inside the cover of Kari's book went entirely unnoticed – even when she and Gatomon kicked off their summer vacation by reading through all of the books twice. While she hadn't enjoyed meeting the author, she had greatly enjoyed the books, especially _The Digital World _and _The Search for Crests_, which were the first two in the series, the two that took place before Kari had joined the group. She had heard all of the stories before, of course, from Tai and her other friends, but it was different reading about them. There were details that the others had left out, like exactly how upset T.K. had been when Angemon was destroyed fighting Devimon. And exactly how crazy Tai had become when trying to get Greymon to digi-volve.

Kari had no trouble understanding why the books had reached the popularity they had so far achieved. It wasn't just how awesome and amazing the stories were, it was how beautifully T.K. told them. Even though he was a major character himself in many of the chapters, he told the tales from an omniscient viewpoint, so that the readers could get insight into all of the character's emotions and feel close to each of them.

Kari also thought her love for the books could have been due to the fact that reliving them now at a much older age helped her to understand what her friends had been going through. At the time she had only been eight years old. Now she really knew why Matt had left the group during their fight against the Dark Masters, and lots of other small details she hadn't paid much attention to back then.

She was about to start the series for the third time one summer day when her phone rang.

"Hello?" Kari answered.

"Kari?" Yolei's voice replied.

"Oh, hey, Yolei, I've been meaning to call you…Have you read T.K.'s books about the digital world?"

"Yeah, I've read them. They've been out for a while now…"  
"And have you talked to T.K. lately? He's turned into a total jerk."  
"Kari!" Yolei interrupted. "I'm calling because you haven't been reading my wedding emails."

"I have too," Kari lied.

"Then you remember that the wedding's on Saturday?"

"Saturday? So soon?" Yolei sighed on the other end. "Okay," Kari confessed, "I'll read the emails."

"Alright, do that right now and I'll talk to you later. Good to know you're still alive."

Kari laughed as she hung up the phone. Grudgingly she put down the book and strolled over to her desktop computer. Yolei and Ken were getting married on Saturday and Kari would be standing up in the wedding as a bridesmaid along with Yolei's two sisters, Gatomon, Mimi and Palmon. Sora had declined Yolei's bridesmaid offer due to the fact that she was about eight and a half months pregnant with her and Matt's first baby and "ready to pop" as Tai said.

There were six unread emails from Yolei. She started with the oldest one but when she finished the third long paragraph describing how exactly her hair should look she skipped to the next one which contained the seating arrangements for the reception. She clicked to open the attached file, which contained a map of the hall and found the head table to see where she would be. It was arranged so that Yolei's two sisters, her brother, Cody, Armadillomon, and Hawkmon would be sitting to one side of the bride and groom and Kari, Gatomon, Mimi, Palmon, Davis, Veemon, Patamon, and T.K. would be on the other side.

She read the names again then picked up her phone to call Yolei back.

"Yolei," she said as soon as she heard the other girl pick up. "Why didn't you tell me T.K. was coming to the wedding?"

Yolei was laughing. "We had a bet on how long it would take you to find that out." She heard Ken's laughter in the background so she assumed he was the other one in on it.

"Seriously, Yolei, he's a total asshole now. Make Mimi sit by him."

"Kari, this is my wedding. T.K. is one of Ken's best friends, and one of my best friends. You're just going to have to suck it up."

Kari sighed and agreed that she would. When Saturday came around she found herself a lot less excited for the wedding than she thought she would be, no matter how hard Gatomon tried to perk her up. Kari knew Gatomon was just excited at the chance to finally see Patamon again. She and Mimi got their hair done together Saturday morning and then helped Yolei get ready for the big day. They were in her makeshift dressing room of the church when her oldest sister Momoe pulled out a hidden flask of vodka, which they passed around several times. After that, Kari felt much more relaxed.

The bridesmaids were all wearing floor length lavender silk dresses with thin spaghetti straps and silver high-heeled shoes. The digimon had been somewhat forced to don matching lavender bows and bowties. When she left the dressing room for the foyer she ran headlong into Davis, who was wearing a matching lavender vest under his black tuxedo jacket.

"Kari!" He picked her up around the waist and swung her around.

"Shh!" Momoe shushed them, "They're just about to start, everyone line up."

Kari took her place beside Cody, who would be escorting her down the aisle. Behind her Davis lined up beside Momoe as best man and maid of honor and Yolei's other sister and brother lined up as well, with the digimon interspersed between the couples.

From the other room T.K. emerged, looking stunning, of course, in a tuxedo, purple vest and all. He and Mimi were already linked arm in arm and she was laughing at something he had said. His blue eyes met Kari's as he moved to stand in front of her.

"Go!" Momoe urged them and they stepped off into the church.

Kari felt another stab of dislike as she watched T.K. and Mimi make their way down the aisle. Apparently he had kept in touch with everyone except her.

"Are you ready, Kari?" Cody asked her.

"Yep," she nodded, smiling at him. They took off arm in arm down the aisle after T.K. and Mimi. In the pews she saw the rest of the digi-destineds smiling at her. She smiled back at her friends and brother, glad that they could all be there to finally celebrate with Yolei and Ken. After all, they'd been planning their wedding for the last two years after he had proposed at their college graduation.

The ceremony was long but beautiful. Afterwards, they posed for photographs then left for the reception. On the way Momoe's refilled flask was passed around several more times. The few sips from the flask were much more alcohol than Kari was used to drinking. Her head was already feeling a little tipsy when she and Gatomon stopped in the restroom on their way into the banquet hall.

Inside she found the very pregnant Sora leaning up against the sink to touch up her lipstick.

"Kari! Gatomon!" Sora grabbed her hands and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Hi Sora! You look great!"

"Thanks," she replied. "So do you!"

Kari escaped into a bathroom stall as Sora continued their conversation. "I'm so glad that we're all here for once."  
"Yeah," Kari agreed, hoping she wasn't referring to Kari's absence from her and Matt's wedding two years ago.

"Especially T.K. I thought for sure he'd be too busy."

"Yeah," Kari said, "I didn't know he and Ken were still that great of friends."

"Well that's pretty recent," Sora informed her. "He was spending a lot of time in France after he graduated college to help take care of Grandpa Takaishi. Then after he passed he moved back here to Japan permanently. That was when he and Ken got back into touch about six months ago."

"Oh," Kari replied. She hadn't known about his grandpa, not that she had ever met the man, but Tai had once a long time ago. She finished her business and left the stall to wash her hands.

Sora turned to face her. "T.K. told Matt that you came to his book signing."

Kari fixed a strand of hair that was falling out of her up-do.

"He also told Matt that you never called him afterwards."

"Really?" Kari was somewhat surprised that he actually thought she would.

"Yeah," Sora replied. "I think you should give him a chance, Kari. You two were such good friends back then."  
Kari forced a smile at her old friend, even though it's not what she was feeling at the moment. "I'll think about it. Come on Gatomon, let's go find our seats."

They left the bathroom and headed straight for the bar. She needed a glass of champagne before she dealt with anything else. Luckily, dinner was a civil affair at their end of the table. Mimi kept T.K. distracted as they caught up and Davis told her all about his new serious girlfriend Lea and the plans she had to help him achieve his noodle cart dreams. The whole time she was dreading the moment when T.K. would want to know why she hadn't called him.

The awkward moment finally arrived when both Davis and Mimi left the table to go mingle after dinner and they both remained, sipping their champagne in silence. Before Kari could think of a way to begin a conversation, T.K. broke the ice.

"Hey Kari? I really want to apologize for the book signing a few weeks ago. I shouldn't have made you wait like that. I'm sorry."

"Oh," Kari said, surprised. "Well, I forgive you."

"Okay, great. I assumed that's why you didn't call me. I can't believe I was so rude."

Kari rolled her eyes. "Yeah you were, but that's not why I didn't call you."

He looked surprised. "Then what was it?"

"I didn't call because you were a dick."

"A dick?" He put a lot of emphasis on the second word. "Wow, I don't think anyone's ever called me that before."

He looked stunned. Kari was too, as an elementary school teacher she didn't often use such colorful language. They were interrupted, however, when Ken plopped down into Mimi's vacant seat. He put his hand on T.K.'s shoulder. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about what you asked me and I think I finally have an answer for you." His eyes had a glaze to them that told Kari he'd had quite a few glasses of champagne or something stronger. "I think you should publish the book, but on one condition."

T.K. nodded.

"I want you to put an amendment or an author's note or whatever it's called in the end that says Yolei and I are married now."

T.K. and Kari both smiled at Ken. "Why's that?" T.K. asked him.

"Because," Ken explained, "if everyone knows that Yolei forgave me enough to marry me then I must not be all that bad to deserve her."

"Sure thing, Ken," T.K. promised as Yolei pulled him back onto the dance floor.

"Does that mean we can look forward to the next installment?" Kari asked T.K., changing the subject.

"Yeah, hopefully," he replied. "I've had a bit more trouble with this book than the others."

"I can imagine," Kari said. She knew the next part of the story was when Davis, Yolei, and Cody joined them to fight the Digimon Emperor.

"Oh," T.K. gestured toward the groom, "it wasn't just that I wanted Ken's permission before I finished it. My publishers haven't really liked the drafts I've sent them so far."

"Really?" Kari asked. "Why's that?"

T.K.'s cheeks flushed slightly as he stared down his champagne flute. "It's a little embarrassing now, I guess. But my publishers would prefer if I focused less on you and more on the other characters."

Kari almost choked on her champagne. "What? Does that mean they don't like me?"

T.K. laughed to himself. "No…I said that wrong. They like you. You see…back then I had such a big crush on you that most of my memories of the way things happened were pretty much…centered around you. And when I wrote the first draft…I guess I wrote it the way I remembered it. And that's why they want it to be less about you and more about the other characters."

"I see," Kari said, a little shocked to know that he had felt that way about her. She was about to ask him more when he interrupted her thought process by asking her to dance.

She smiled and drained her glass. "Sure," after all, she thought, why not. They danced for three songs before Kari helped herself to another glass of champagne. Then it was time to cut the cake. Yolei surprised no one by smashing her slice into Ken's face. Then Mimi caught the bouquet, bouncing and squealing as she did so.

Meanwhile, Kari danced a song with Ken, then Tai, then Davis, and then somehow a few more with T.K. She knew that she didn't really like the new T.K., but she couldn't help the residual teenage feelings she had felt for him all those years ago coming back. It may have also been the champagne but she felt alive where he touched her lower back and the palm of her hand, like little electrical sparks were flying through her. It didn't make sense that she could like and dislike him at the same time, so she chose not to think about it.

Gatomon had pretty much disappeared for the night along with many of the other digital friends present. When she mentioned it to T.K. he showed her where they had all retreated to the kitchen to help themselves to second servings of dinner. They both laughed from where they spied behind the kitchen door, then T.K. slipped his arm inside into an open case of the champagne bottles sitting near the door and grabbed one from the box.

"What are you doing?" Kari asked, somewhat nervous they would get in trouble for taking it.

"Come on," he said, grabbing her hand with his free one and pulling her back out through the hall and into the lobby. There he found a door marked "Employees Only," and he pushed it open to reveal a long flight of winding stairs. At the top was a bright red door marked "Roof Entrance."

Kari stopped abruptly, causing T.K. to jerk the hand he still clasped tightly. "T.K., no," she said. "We can't go out there."

He tried the handle and the door swung open. "Sure we can. Come on," he pulled her outside. It was a nice warm summer night. They were high up in the middle of a lit up Tokyo. Kari's heels sunk into the gravel covering the roof so she pulled them off and lifted the hem of her skirt to keep it from dragging on the ground. A gentle breeze was blowing through her hair, probably spraying bobby pins but she didn't care. T.K. took off his jacket and set it on the ground for them to sit on.

He popped the bottle and took a swig before passing it to her. She repeated his motion and sighed, letting him put his arm around her.

"Do you want to hear something funny?" she asked him.

He turned to look at her. "What's that?"  
"Back when we were kids…I had a pretty big crush on you too."

He laughed. "No you didn't."

She slid out from under his arm. "What do you mean, no, I didn't? I did. I really did." She gave him a playful shove to the chest.

He faked a loud groan. "Fine, I believe you." His arm came back up around her and this time she leaned into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder.

"It's beautiful up here," she said.

"Mhmm," he replied.

They sat like that for a while longer before Kari began to feel the rocks digging into her legs through his coat. She sat up. "We should probably go back inside."

He turned to look at her and suddenly their faces were very close. "Yeah," he said as he looked into her eyes, sending those butterflies soaring around her gut again. She could feel all of the alcohol in her system rushing to her head, or maybe it was all the blood leaving her head, but it felt like the world was spinning faster as he leaned in to kiss her. Their lips met and she felt the tiny electric sparks firing all over her body.

His kiss was gentle at first and very hesitant before she leaned closer to deepen it. His arms came around her and held her tightly against him. She closed her eyes and gave in to the taste, scent, and feel of him.

The next thing she knew she opened her eyes to a bright sunny room. The floor-to-ceiling windows were thrown open allowing a warm summer breeze into the room that played gently with the long gauzy curtains. The breeze had a faint scent of ocean salt and outside Kari could hear waves crashing against the surf.

Wait, she thought, the ocean? Yolei's reception hadn't been anywhere near the ocean. She looked down and found that she was naked in a wide, soft bed, wrapped in silky white sheets.

Oh no, oh no, she thought to herself as she realized there was an arm that was not hers wrapped tightly around her waist. It took her only a few seconds to detach herself and slip carefully from the bed, her brain throbbing inside her skull. She paused for a second to piece back her memories from the night before. She remembered going up on the roof and making out like teenagers. She flushed remembering the way he had kissed her neck and how easily she'd given in to him. Then his driver had taken them back here to what must be his house and then…Her whole body was still tingling as she thought about it.

She looked at the purple bridesmaid dress she'd left crumpled on the floor and decided against putting it back on. Instead she pulled on his white button up shirt and boxer shorts. She grabbed her heels and her clutch purse and snuck carefully out of the room; once there though she had to pause again. This was most definitely the largest house she had ever been in. Luckily, she managed to make a few turns and find the wide marble staircase that led to the front door.

In the glass of the door she caught a glimpse of her own reflection and cringed. One side of her hair was still caught in the up-do and one side was falling down in a tangled mess. There was makeup smeared across and below her eyes giving her a slight raccoon-eyed look. Despite that, she still had to laugh as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. She hadn't had a walk of shame like this, well, ever. In college she'd usually been the one making fun of the girls stumbling home early in the morning after a night out.

Kari was inching the heavy oak and glass door open when she heard footsteps padding down the stairs behind her.

"Kari, wait!" T.K. cried as he followed her into the foyer. "Please, don't go."

She turned around to tell him all the reasons why she shouldn't stay but the words were taken out of her mouth when she saw that he was completely, entirely, and literally butt naked.

"Why are you naked?" she asked, blushing as her eyes were drawn almost magnetically to his lower region.

"Oh," he said, as if just realizing he wasn't wearing any clothes. "I was in a rush to catch you. What was I supposed to put on? Your dress?"

Kari couldn't help but giggle when she pictured that. Then she felt bad for laughing and covered her mouth with her hand, also busy trying to look anywhere but at him, or more specifically, between his legs. When she tried to stifle her laugh, however, all that ended up coming out was a loud snort, which made them both erupt into laughter. She laughed so hard she fell back against the open door, slamming it shut. They both slid to the floor where he crawled to sit beside her.

"All right," she said when she had finally calmed down enough to talk without laughing. "I'm not leaving. Are you happy now?"

"Yes, but can I still give you my speech? I had everything I need to say planned out, just in case."

"Sure, why not?"

"Okay." He moved so that he was kneeling in front of her, giving her another awkward view.

"Oh no," she cried out, trying not to stare again and holding her hand out as if to block her line of vision.

"Kari," he said. "We've been friends for a long time and there is nothing I regret more than not keeping in touch with you. Please just give me a chance. I don't want to go another twelve years without talking to you or seeing you."

Kari hesitated. "I…just don't know, T.K. It's been so long, we're totally different people now. Not to mention everything that happened last night. How can we have the same friendship now?"

"I know, I know, I know," he pleaded. "I just think we owe it to each other to give this a chance. How about just one date and we see what happens?"  
Kari sighed, unsure of what exactly it was about his cool blue eyes that was so successful at wearing down her resistance. "Okay," she concurred. "One date."


	5. Chapter 5

**All Grown Up**

Chapter 5

Present Day

Later that week Kari arrived at work to find a notice taped to her classroom door from the principal reporting that there seemed to be a flu going around the children at their school. Sure enough, before the first bell had even rung four of her students were called in sick by their parents. She sent two more kids to the nurse shortly after she took attendance. And by lunchtime, she herself was feeling rather nauseous and feverish.

While her students were enjoying their recess period after lunch, Kari spent her prep hour on her knees in front of the toilet in the staff bathroom. When there was nothing left in her stomach she called her husband.

"Hey, T.K., are you at home today?"

"No, I'm at the office. What's wrong? You don't sound well."

"No, I'm sick. I think I'm going to call in a substitute teacher and head home early. Can you pick the kids up from school at three thirty?"

"Yeah, I can do that," he replied quickly. "How sick are you? Do you want me to come drive you home?" He sounded really concerned.

"No, that's okay," she assured him. "I can drive myself. It's just a stomach flu, it's been going around the school all week."

"Oh, okay," he sounded relieved. "At least we know you're not pregnant." He laughed on the other end.

Kari, on the other hand, suddenly froze. "Yeah," she replied, pretending to emulate his relief. "I'll see you when you get home." She hung up the phone before she could hear his goodbye. She had just remembered something very, very important. Pulling herself together, she washed her hands and face before hurrying back to her classroom and her purse. Quickly, she found her small pink packet of birth control pills she stored in the outside pocket.

Oh, no, she thought to herself as she looked at the full packet. She knew her symptoms today weren't from morning sickness, but with how busy she'd been this week she realized she hadn't taken her pills in the last five days. And the other night she and T.K. hadn't used a condom.

Her next phone call was to Sora. While they had never been particularly close in their childhood, as sister-in-laws they had had a lot of time to bond over the last ten years and had become just as close as any sisters.

"Hi, Sora, it's me," Kari said as soon as she heard the other woman answer.

"Hey, Kari, what's up? Is everything okay?"

"No, not really… I think I might be sick, but that's not why I'm calling. I don't really know why I'm calling, I just realized today I've missed a few of my birth control pills and…I figured you would know what I should do."

"Say no more. Has it been less than three days since you and T.K…"

"Yeah, only two days."

"Okay," Sora continued, "I have some emergency contraceptive pills I keep on hand for just this purpose. Want me to bring them by your house later?"

Kari sighed in relief. "Yes, Sora, that would be perfect. Thank you so much."

"Kari, you don't have to apologize. That's what family's for."

As awful as Kari was feeling, she felt at least a small bit better after talking to Sora. It wasn't that she didn't want any more kids, it just wasn't something she and T.K. had talked about or even really considered. Their lives were crazy enough with two. And with Finn in school now, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to have another baby at home, or taking another maternity leave, or being up all night at the whim or a crying infant. She very much appreciated being able to sleep through the nights.

When she got home she headed straight to her bedroom, enjoying the serenity of an empty and quiet house. She lay down in her bed and would have been asleep instantly if several pairs of feet hadn't followed her.

"Whatchya doing home so early, Kari?" Tokomon asked.

"Are you okay?" asked Gatomon, "You're almost as green as Palmon."

Salamon snickered. "Where's Finn and Ben?"

She told them she wasn't feeling well and explained that T.K. would be bringing the boys home later. "Now, shut the door because I need rest." So much for an empty quiet house, she thought. She imagined the digimon were quite bored during the school days. Patamon usually went to the office with T.K. whenever he went in, but most of the public schools had enacted rules restricting digimon. Now that everyone has a digimon partner, schools were quite crowded and the students quite distracted in their presence.

She woke up several hours later to the sound of her boys laughing and screaming downstairs. She still felt a little clammy so she wrapped herself in a blanket before heading downstairs for a glass of water.

The noise was coming from the living room where T.K. and Finn were in the middle of what looked to be an intense tickle match.

"Did we wake you up?" T.K. asked when he noticed her coming down the stairs.

"Yeah, but don't worry about." She smiled at them. "Continue." He turned back to their son who emitted a loud shriek as T.K. attacked his belly with wiggling fingers, Salamon egging them on from the couch.

"Oh," she said as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Did Sora happen to stop by?"

"No, I haven't seen her, but there's a package for you in the kitchen," he called out laughing as Finn and Salamon pinned him to the ground in retaliation.

Kari headed to the kitchen were there was a small brown paper bag sitting on the counter that definitely hadn't been there earlier. Her name was written in Sora's curly penmanship on the side. She peeked inside and found the medication she needed. With a quick glance to the side effects and instructions she poured herself a large glass of water and swallowed the pill. Afterward, she decided she better stay upstairs in her room where she had a smaller chance of infecting someone in her family with the flu.

She curled back up into her bed and turned on the television in their room to her DVR recordings of her favorite soap opera. She was almost asleep again when Ben walked in.

"Mommy?" he asked as he approached her bed.

"Yeah, honey?" she asked, opening her eyes.

"Are you and daddy going to have another baby?"

"What?" She sat up. "Why would you ask that?"

"The bag on the counter said counter-ceptive so I Googled it."

"Oh," Kari said, making a mental note to check the parental controls on all the computers. "What did you learn from Google?"

"I know it has to do with babies. Are you going to have another baby?"

"No, sweetie, we're not."

"Okay," his face fell slightly.

"Why do you look so disappointed?" She asked him, slightly amused. "You already have a little brother."

"Yeah," he said sulkily. "I just thought a sister would be cool too."

"A sister?" Kari asked him, drawing him up onto the bed beside her. "I thought you said the other days that girls have cooties."

He giggled as she poked him in the stomach. "They do. But not sisters."

"Well, what about cousins?" Kari asked him. "You have Mina." Mina was Sora and Matt's oldest daughter.

"No, Mina definitely has cooties. She's too old to play with us. And she hates cars and water balloons."

"No," Kari corrected him, "Mina hates when you throw water balloons at her." She remembered their most recent family reunion where Jon had led the boys in an attack against Mina, the only girl. "If you had a baby sister now it would be a few years before she would want to play with you. And she probably wouldn't want you to throw water balloons at her either."

He made a face, realizing that she was right. "Well, what about another baby brother?"

Kari laughed, "Why don't you make do with the one you have and let mommy get some rest."

He padded out of the room and Kari snuggled back into her covers. Just like before, Kari was instantly asleep. She vaguely remembered T.K. waking her up with a pizza box in hand to check on her and see if she wanted any dinner.

It was much later when she woke again, though not by her own will. She sat up in bed. The room was dark and quiet, minus T.K.'s soft snoring beside her. The time on her digital alarm clock next to her bed read two fifty-eight in bright red glowing numbers. Her heart was pounding like she'd just snapped out of a nightmare.

She heard a sound from somewhere in the house and she knew it was the same thing that had woken her. Her maternal instincts took over and she flew out of bed and into the hall, not concerned at all over waking her sleeping husband.

Gatomon met her in the hall, her fur standing on end like a fractious house cat. They both paused when they heard the sound again, a soft whimper coming from Finn's room. Kari didn't hesitate before creeping open the door.

The only light in Finn's room came from the gentle glow of a nightlight plugged into the far wall. Still, it was enough for Kari to see her youngest son sitting up in bed with tears streaming down his face. Salamon was nestled up against his side, trying his best to calm him down.

"Finn," Kari swept to her son's other side and gathered him in her arms. "What's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?"

He nodded , smearing some snot along Kari's pajamas but she didn't mind. She held him tighter and made shushing noises. A light flipped on in the hallway and she heard T.K. following her.

"It's okay now," she murmured to her son. "It was just a dream, it wasn't real." She grabbed his hands, surprised to find them icy cold. She hoped he wasn't coming down with the flu too. T.K. reached Finn's room and leaned against the doorway as Kari soothed their son.

Finn sat up and wiped a hand across his nose. When he was ready they tucked him back into bed. They were just about to leave his room when Finn asked, "What happens if I have that dream again?"

T.K. smiled at him. "Just remember that it's not real, and dreams can't hurt you."

"And you have Salamon here to protect you," Kari added.

Finn smiled at his digimon partner. "Maybe next time I dream about that ocean, I'll dream you there with me, Salamon."

Kari stiffened. Her whole body went as cold as Finn's hands had just been. "The ocean? Your dream was about an ocean?"

Finn nodded as he curled up in his bed, eyelids already heavy and fighting to stay awake. "Yeah. A dark, cold ocean."


End file.
